The Curse of Davros (audio story)

The Curse of Davros is the first story in the 2012 Sixth Doctor audio trilogy. It featured the return of Flip Jackson who had previously appeared in The Crimes of Thomas Brewster. During the closing moments of this story, she joins the Doctor.

Publishers summary

It's been a year since Philippa "Flip" Jackson found herself transported by Tube train to battle robot mosquitoes on a bizarre alien planet in the company of a Time Lord known only as "the Doctor".

Lightning never strikes twice, they say. Only now there's a flying saucer whooshing over the top of the night bus taking her home. Inside: the Doctor, with another extraterrestrial menace on his tail — the Daleks, and their twisted creator Davros!

But while Flip and the fugitive Doctor struggle to beat back the Daleks' incursion into 21st century London, Davros's real plan is taking shape nearly 200 years in the past, on the other side of the English Channel. At the battle of Waterloo...

Plot

to be added

Cast

References

Cultural references from the real world

On visiting the battlefield at Waterloo, Jared is reminded of the strategy-based video game franchise Command & Conquer.

Daleks

The upper half of a Dalek's casing is light enough for Flip to lift over Davros.
There are several insights (from a human perspective at least) into Dalek psychology and physiology; there is an underlying anger almost childish anger that is part of the Dalek's psychology/physiology. The Daleks are always in pain.
Davros orders the Supreme Dalek to increase its brain electro-stimulation by a factor of ten as a punishment.
Davros orders a Dalek to self destruct. Given that he and the Supreme Dalek are close to it when it does, this must not be a very violent self destruction.
Davros' Kaled brain patterns are similar to those of a Dalek.

Individuals

After her flat is destroyed by the Daleks, Flip laments that she will have to move back in her with mother and her boyfriend Nigel whom she considers "creepy."
Flip has never had a solid grasp of history and claims that she was not even allowed to do it for her GCSEs. Consequently, her only knowledge of the Battle of Waterloo comes from the Swedish pop group ABBA's song "Waterloo". Upon meeting Napoleon only hours before the battle is to begin, she tells him of its outcome by quoting the song's opening lyric: "At Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender."
Davros is in constant pain. The Doctor acknowledges that if there was a button on Davros' chair that could terminate his life, he would use it in an instant to end the pain.

The Curse of Davros — Textless cover art

Notes

This is the second audio drama released in the main range to feature the Duke of Wellington as a character. The first was AUDIO: Other Lives in December 2005 in which he was played by Ron Moody. He does not actually meet the Doctor in either story.
This is the first audio drama released in the main range to feature Davros since AUDIO: Terror Firma in August 2005 and the first overall since NOTDWU: Masters of War in December 2008.
With this audio drama, Colin Baker becomes the sixth actor to portray Davros. Coincidentally, he has played the sixth incarnation of the Doctor since 1984.
This audio drama was recorded on 6 and 7 June 2011.

Continuity

Flip and Jared recall the events of AUDIO: The Crimes of Thomas Brewster, which occurred one year earlier in their personal timelines. Jared mentions that he still has D.I. Patricia Menzies' mobile phone number somewhere.
The Second Doctor was also present at the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815. In the course of the same adventure, he had extensive contact with both Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington. (PROSE: World Game) During his eighth incarnation, his companion Charley Pollard would later befriend the elderly Duke at the Great Exhibition in 1851. (AUDIO: Other Lives) Much earlier in his personal timeline, the First Doctor had met Napoleon on the Russian front in 1812 (AUDIO: Mother Russia), which Iris Wildthyme claimed to have done as well (AUDIO: The Panda Invasion, The Claws of Santa). Furthermore, the First Doctor's companions Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright had earlier been in Napoleon's presence in a tavern in Paris on 28 July 1794 but did not actually speak to him. (TV: The Reign of Terror)
When Flip inquires after Evelyn Smythe, the Doctor tells her that she left the TARDIS in order to spend the rest of her life with "a chap called Rossiter." (AUDIO: Thicker than Water)
The Doctor tells Flip that Davros' life support chariot does not feature a button with which his life support can be deactivated. This would suggest that Davros has redesigned the chair since he first met the Fourth Doctor on Skaro. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
The Doctor asks Davros if he was "expecting someone else." (TV: The Caves of Androzani)
Napoleon Bonaparte is described as having "a genius for war". (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan)
Although the Doctor does not come into contact with him, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's ancestor Major General Fergus Lethbridge-Stewart served as the Duke of Wellington's right-hand man at the Battle of Waterloo. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice)
The destruction of Flip's flat and the death of the humans who had been occupied by Daleks would be referred to as the Thames Mead Massacre and would be dealt with by Charlie Sato. (AUDIO: Mastermind)

External links

Official The Curse of Davros page at bigfinish.com
DisContinuity for The Curse of Davros at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide

Tardis